Missing 3-year-old’s body found in nullah

Nagpur: Twenty-four hours after a three-year-old boy went missing from Mehboob Nagar in north Nagpur, his body was found stuck in stagnant sewage in a nullah under a bridge in Sangharsh Nagar on Saturday. The toddler, Mohammad Konan Ansari, was last spotted playing with his cousin near his maternal uncle's residence on Friday evening. He had gone to his uncle's home on a three-day vacation. The tragedy cast a pall of gloom in the area. The boy's father, Imran Ansari, a handloom worker, was devastated.When the boy didn't return home till Friday evening, family members and locals launched a frantic search. By 6.30pm, worried relatives reached Yashodhara Nagar police station to report the missing child. Police swung into action, forming multiple search teams and scrutinising CCTV footage in the area.
The footage proved crucial, as one clip showed the boy and his elder cousin playfully moving towards the road at 5.16pm. In subsequent footage, only the cousin was visible returning home — the 3-year-old was nowhere to be seen. This confirmed that Konan went missing in the stretch between the two CCTV locations. Investigators suspected the child may have accidentally fallen into a nearby nullah while playing.The family and police scoured the vicinity, focusing on the drain. Due to darkness, heavy muck, and filth, the nullah beneath the bridge could not be thoroughly searched at night, said senior inspector Sandeep Buwa of Yashodhara Nagar police station. The search resumed early Saturday.Amid the operation, a hoax call claimed a child resembling Konan was spotted at Wanjara Layout, a few km away. "Police rushed to verify, but it turned out to be false," said senior PI Buwa.Undeterred, teams intensified efforts under the bridge. Around 5pm on Saturday, the boy's body was found stuck in the muck inside the nullah. The body was retrieved and shifted to Mayo Hospital for autopsy, scheduled for Sunday. Police registered the case as an accidental death.Senior inspector Buwa stated preliminary investigations indicate the boy had slipped and fallen into the nullah while playing with his cousin, who returned home alone and went straight to bed.Police believe the cousin may have witnessed or known details about how the fall occurred. However, considering the family's grief, police plan to question the cousin sensitively after a few days to reconstruct the sequence of events.